The Eighty Five Jins
by Discreetly
Summary: Sometimes I have to write a drabble and so, I put it here. Currently: The Season 2 Finale with a superior ending.
1. Camp Noises

_AN: Set after the Drill and before Suki's capture._

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><p>It was a boring night for guard duty. Mai flicked a knife up into the air and watched it spin seven times before she snatched it out of the air. She sighed, a <em>very<em> boring night for guard duty. Out in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, in some random forest, miles away from any Fire Nation forces it made perfect sense to be a little wary. Every earthbender dreamed to capture some Fire Nation nobility and exact revenge, if it happened to be the princess herself, well that was just icing on the cake. Mai understood the need for her position incredibly well, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

The knife went up again and Mai watched it rotate through the air. Six... Seven... Eight times... Her hand darted towards it...

and missed by a mile. She was immediately on her feet, a whole new set of blades in her hands as the forgotten knife landed in the dirt with a dull thud.

She had heard something. Through the endless chirping of crickets and rustle of night animals, Mai had heard something. Voices. They weren't far, Mai could tell, but they were whispering. She closed her eyes and strained to listen. It was a gentle murmuring, too small to be made out, but just loud enough for her to pick up the direction. Mai opened her eyes and looked to where the sound was coming from.

It was back where their camp was and Mai immediately felt silly. She was being paranoid. For all the right reasons of course, but perhaps a little too jumpy. Mai was just about to sit back and relax again when the voices suddenly went from quiet murmur to a loud yelp.

Was that... Azula? Did the princess just cry out "Gyah!"? For more than one reason, Mai went to investigate. Closer to Azula's tent, Mai began to hear the voices clearly.

"That _hurt_, Ty Lee."

"Did it? Here let me do it harder."

"What? How does that even make se-OH."

"Trust me, Azula. I know what I'm doing."

"Yes, well. Just give me a little more waOOOH! Damnit, Ty Lee!"

"Heehee, sorry Azula."

A million thoughts crashed into another inside Mai's mind and the ensuing explosion seemed to wipe out every last brain cell in her head. This must be what going crazy was like.

"Move a little to the left."

"Woah! Azula, it's so tight!"

"Well, I've had a lot on my mind."

"Mind if I ask what?"

"MMMmm..."

Azula just purred. Mai had to be dreaming. She wanted to slap herself, but her brain was too busy deleting everything it thought it knew.

"Yes," the princess managed to say finally, "I do mind."

"Okay!" Ty Lee answered as cheerful as ever.

"I think it's... wait what was that?"

Mai was on her knees. She did not know when that had occurred. Apparently the mental holocaust had just reached the portion of her brain that managed her legs. Mai supposed that she must have made quite a thud with her collapse. She vaguely recognized that as something _not_ good.

The flap of the tent opened up and Ty Lee stuck her head out.

"Hi, Mai!"

"Hi." She answered automatically.

"Whatcha doing?"

"I... I..." Her mind picked up a little speed with the two syllables and rolled into a whole sentence, "What are _you_ doing?"

The tent flap opened a little wider and Azula's head appeared.

"She's attending me. Doing her job." The princess sneered, "Just like how you're supposed to be keeping guard."

Mai felt her face turn red, "You can't do that!" She turned to her _actual_ friend, "Ty Lee, you don't have to do _that_ for her."

The acrobat shook her head, a grin plastered on her face, "No, really, it's okay!" She looked at Azula, beaming, "I don't mind at all! It's kinda fun, actually."

"See, Mai?" Azula said with an exasperated tone, "You always make such a big fuss out of everything."

"Ah bwuh." Was all Mai had to say to that. Her mind had gone and died all over again.

"If you'd like, Mai, I don't mind doing it for you, either." Ty Lee smiled.

The word burst out of Mai instantly, "_NO_."

The response struck Ty Lee like lightning. Tears were already welling in her eyes, "I... I'm sorry... I know I'm not the best..."

"You're fine, Ty Lee," Azula rolled her eyes, "Mai just hates _everything_."

"It's not that!" Mai protested desperately, "I just... that's not... I just don't like it."

"Oh hi, my name's Mai," The princess mimicked, her voice incredibly flat, "I complain about everything 'cause life sucks. I don't wanna go in the sludge tube 'cause it's dirty. I won a fight, how boring, now look at me lose 'cause I wasn't paying attention to the ten-ton sky bison."

"This is completely different!" Mai shouted, "And stop crying, Ty Lee! I just don't want to do... _why are you crying_!"

"Oh hi, my name's Mai, I hate victory and obeying orders and babies. I also hate Ty Lee. Especially when she offers to give me a foot massage."

"Azula, would you shut- wait what."

"What?"

"What did you just say?"

"You hate everything?"

"What did you say about foot massages!"

"You hate them?"

Mai almost tore her hair out, but instead she took a deep breath.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Mai levelled a finger at Ty Lee, "You were only talking about a foot massage?"

The acrobat looked up from her tears and nodded.

"So before I... interrupted, you were just giving Azula a foot massage?"

Ty Lee nodded again.

Mai stared for a long while at her friends. They stared back expectantly. Eventually, she turned around and walked away.

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><p>"What did you think Mai thought we were doing?"<p>

"Judging from her expression... probably something dirty."

"Oh, how scandalous!"

"More like ridiculous."

"Yeah, she can be a little silly sometimes."

"Utterly insane. We're both girls, how would that even work?"

"Iunno."

"We're just friends, after all."

"The bestest!"

"You'd have to have an incredibly twisted mind to create such a misunderstanding."

"Mai's always been a little off."

"Well, nevermind her. Let's get back to the massage."

"Right. Take off your shirt. It's time for your fully body rub down."


	2. The Problem

_AN: Written for AvatarSpirits drabbledrabbledrabble contest_

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><p>He said it was alright, but she knew it was a lie. He wrapped her in his arms and mumbled soothing sounds, but it didn't stop her tears.<p>

The water would not stop flowing, from her eyes or from her nose and it soaked his robes. She hiccuped and cried all the harder because of it. Failure, they would call her. Disgrace.

"It doesn't matter," He whispered in her ear and she yearned to believe him, "It's fine." But she couldn't miss the disappointment in his voice, the way his eyes had lost their glimmer and turned dull when he first learned.

He held her there in his arms, her face in his chest, crying until her tears had run dry and she could only sob. Her whole head hurt and the pit of her stomach ached like a weight pulling her down. When her father asked if she wanted to go to bed, she only numbly nodded.

His arms came from up under her and he lifted her into the air. She would've squealed with delight if her voice had been working properly or she hadn't felt so horrible.

Her father moved with an easy rhythm - the sure graceful steps of the Fire Lord - that seemed to calm her. Her eyes closed and she wanted to sleep right there in his arms. To dream would've been bliss, it would be escape from the gnawing dread in the pit of her stomach. All she had to do was sleep and dream and all her fantasies would come true.

Her father stopped and gently placed her upon the soft sheets of her bed. Despite the soft silk and the plush bed, her eyes opened and saw her father - already looking at her, a soft smile on his lips.

"Why?" She asked, her voice still weak from crying, "Why did this have to happen to me?"

The Fire Lord's smile faltered and he swallowed aimlessly. In the end, all he could come up with was, "It doesn't matter." He paused before adding, "Your mother and I love you no matter who you are."

"But why," her voice strained with the words, "Why me?"

Her father gave her a hard look then and said resolutely, "It's nothing to be ashamed of."

It is, she thought to herself bitterly and looked away from her father as she realized he could not possibly answer her. He could not possibly know.

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><p>She was only fifteen when they first came to Republic City and she gawked the whole way through. There had been warnings and advice from everyone about the place, but no one had mentioned how magnificent it all was. The buildings were taller than mountains, dominating the landscape as they simply went up and up. People seemed to be in constant motion here, speeding along on metal carts that threw gusts of wind as they passed or simply walking through the chaos, their footsteps hammering the ground in such large numbers it felt as if the earth was shaking.<p>

The guards did their best to keep the press of people away from the palanquin, but she secretly hoped they failed. She wanted to reach out and touch these people to see if they were real or just another part of her dreams. It was impossible to guess any of these people's origin, they did not wear any of the trademark colors of the other nations or if they did, they mixed it with so many others they might as well have made their own nation.

It was their own nation, she realized right then, this was Republic City.

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><p>"What were you doing out there?"<p>

She rolled her eyes as the old man went on and on. The lecture was stupid and pointless and she clenched the red sheets of her bed as if it were his hair.

"It doesn't matter." She intoned, trying to sound bored out of her mind.

Her father growled at that, struggled with words and sputtered indignities at her. She looked up at him and saw how old he was. The privilege, that disgusting value of self-entitlement he had grown up into believing. Everything he had was given to him at birth, sheer dumb luck made her father who he was. It was unbearably stupid. He was stupid.

"They could've hurt you! They could've killed you! Do you understand who you're dealing with? Do you even-"

"SHUT UP!" She yelled and stood up. Her hand still clung to the bed sheets and she tossed the silk to the floor. The red fabric shooting out of her hand like fire and in that moment she hated that flimsy blanket more than she had hated anything else in the world. She looked back up at her father and felt all that anger swirl towards him. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" She cried out again and shoved him.

The outburst had settled the old man for a moment as he gaped at her. He had not been pushed far, he had barely taken half a step back, but his face showed she could not have hurt him more. It was worth it, she declared savagely in her own mind, just for that look on his face.

And then the storm struck and she was down on the bed, clutching her cheek. Her head felt dizzingly light as the stinging in her cheek pulsed like the fire she never had.

Then the old man began to talk. His words softer now, more calm. Almost apologetic. But she did not hear him. She was too busy thinking of all the ways her father could die. The most suitable, she decided with a vicious smile, would be in a fire.

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><p>The alcohol made her face a deep red and somehow she was on a table. Expectant eyes of the pub's customers began to fall on her as she stood (only a little shakily) above them. She was sober enough to know what they wanted, this sort of riff-raff would have liked some sort of drunken striptease from her. She was also sober enough to know notto. She wasn't going to give them what they wanted, she was going to give them the truth.<p>

"You folks come here to forget your problems! To drown'em with booze?" She snorted, "I come here to remember them, to nurse them so I can keep a grudge. Because I know! And deep down, you know!" She pointed and swept the finger across the crowd, "That all of our problems is 'cause of those damn benders."

A few shook their heads or shouted lame insults. But only a few. She had struck a chord in them all, she could see that. It was the elephant in every room and she had shouted its name and now everyone was listening. Her pretty face had drawn their eye, but it was her words that captured them.

And if there was one thing she could thank her father for, she thought to herself as she began her rant proper, it was for giving her a leader's voice.

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><p><em>AN:The published piece only has 1100~ words. The amount I actually wrote is something like 3000. The unused bits are mostly tangential or completely unrelated to where I finally decided to take the direction of the drabble. I actually have a happy ending and a few horribly depressing ones, unfortunately I felt they were either too cliche or too lofty, so I settled on the current version.<em>


	3. Two Little Princesses

_AN: Want to know why Genderbent Zuko is great? It's cause she would be at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls along with Azula._

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><p>"I never thought about it that way. But I guess you're right. I am amazing."<p>

Zuan rolled her eyes and neither Azula nor the teacher noticed.

"I didn't think... I mean," The teacher blushed and smiled weakly, "It was a very good paper, Azula. It certainly wasn't 4th grade level!"

"Obviously," Azula said, lifting her head proudly, "Now that you understand, maybe next time you won't put me on the same level as my sister."

The teacher missed the insult, "Don't sell youself short, Azula. You're a very capable writer. You even fooled me!"

The younger princess scowled, but didn't say anything.

"So, there's no problem then?" Zuan cut in, eager to end the tirade, "No one's in trouble?"

"Oh yes," The teacher exclaimed, "It was our mistake..."

"Right, so we'll just leave now." Zuan started to get up.

"Our mistake that Azula's still in fourth grade."

Zuan blinked. "What."

"I and some other teacher's think she should be... moved to some more advanced classes."

Zuan looked at her little sister who turned to meet her gaze. She was smiling. It was horrible.

"Zuan, I think your class has an open spot." The teacher continued on, oblivious to the older princesses' face, "Sisters should be in the same class, don't you agree?"

The eldest daughter of Fire Lord Ozai whipped around, her voice gathering fire, "I really can't dis-" The words died off as a sudden force collided with her chest and every bit of oxygen blew out her lungs.

Azula had slammed her head right underneath Zuan's solar plexus as she "hugged" her older sister. "You can't desert me, Zuan? Oh big sister, you're so sweet! I love you!"

The taller girl gasped desperately and grabbed weakly at her sister. Her punctured breaths coming out as stuttered "I"s.

"Zuan's too embarrassed to say she loves me too!" Azula squealed and renewed her "hug".

"Oh, that's adorable!" The teacher grinned as she began taking out the paperwork, "The class will love having not one, but two princesses!" She glanced over the documents and then beamed when she was satisfied, "Now Azula, you need to sign this form here and get your mother and father to sign it as well. If you send your hawk now, you should be able to get your reply by tomorrow!"

"Yay!" Azula finally let go of Zuan and took the papers, "Thanks, Missus! I'm gonna go send it right away!" The little princess began to skip away, "Bye Zuan! This year is gonna be lots and lots of fun!"

"Gyack." Was the older girl's response. Better than "I" and enough for the teacher to notice that Zuan wasn't just speechless.

Too late, Azula was already gone.

Oh Agni help me, Zuan thought to herself.

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><p><em>AN: Now go write Zuan fanfiction.<em>


	4. Old Friend

_Make sure it's a good one. They won't like it if you feed them something bad._

Aang readjusted the strap of the bag on his shoulder. While he was the Avatar and master of all four elements, physical strength was never his forte. Still, he could carry this much despite how uncomfortable - he shifted the strap again - it made him.

A few villagers caught sight of the Avatar and waved. Aang returned the favor with a smile. He appreciated the tact these people had. In any other place, he would've been swarmed by admirers or well-wishers or even the occasional assassin. It was very flattering - not the last one - but Aang had grown to dislike his inherited fame.

_Excellent choice. Nice and ripe. Alright, go on._

He made his way up the road and somewhat regretted his choice of location. Katara herself couldn't hide how offended she had been when he told her he didn't want it to be anywhere in the South Pole. It was vital, he insisted, it had to be some place with dirt, a place where things could actually grow.

Perhaps not the best way to phrase it to his Water Tribe wife, but she didn't let it bother her long. She knew how important it was to him.

Still, he hadn't been thinking properly when he chose the area. He had just flown into the Earth Kingdom, found the first spot of available land and started digging. And now that he was here again, it just didn't feel right.

None of it did.

_They are easily frightened. You must be gentle._

Aang came to the top of the hill and saw the tree. It had not grown much in the year that Aang had left it, but the wood seemed healthy enough.

_Hold it out. Let him come to you._

He unslung his bag and took one of the many apples from it. He marveled at its redness and felt how hard and plump it was between his fingers. If he bit into it, the juice would gush and dribble down his chin. It was the paramount of apples.

He set it down before the budding tree.

_You two are bonded for life now. Go ahead and name him. Whatever you can think of._

"Appa," Aang whispered, "I miss you, old buddy."


	5. Maverick

_AN: 10 years after the finale and with a reformed Azula. Also poker exists in Avatar and is played with the equivalent of mahjong tiles._

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><p><strong>Maverick<strong>

It was the first fair match either girl had in the tournament. Toph couldn't tell if Azula was lying and Azula couldn't tell if Toph was lying. Azula was cold, hard determination and worked like a machine. Toph was a rock. Every facial muscle controlled, heartbeat as regular as a metronome, it was a match between poker goddesses.

"The tiles are a Water Lady, a Fire Nine and a Water Four." The dealer said dully.

Toph allowed a smile to reach her lips and she spoke with a joking tone, "You know, most people don't like playing one-on-ones. I do, though.." She pushed a stack of chips into the middle of the table, "I raise."

"The Blind Bandit has raised 20,000."

"I call." Azula pushed a stack of her own to the center of the table, "You know, I'm curious, Toph," An eyebrow arched, "How is it that you've gotten this far? Being you know..."

"Blind?" Toph shrugged, "I feel the tiles and I can tell what they are from that. As for the colors, well the different paint on the tiles all have a certain texture to them."

The dealer put out another tile on the table, "An Air Ten."

"Oh no, you misunderstood me," Azula said with a very un-Azulaish giggle, "I meant how could you gotten so far in the tournament being the complete idiot that you are? Last, I remember poker was a game of intelligence."

"So did I," Toph coolly replied, "But if a formerly institutionalized psycho ends up at the last table, who knows?" She pushed another stack of coins forward not even bothering to count, "I raise."

"The Blind Bandit raises 12,000."

"I know it's hard to keep count with that peanut brain of yours," Azula said with a smile, "So I'll help keep the numbers nice and even."

"The Blue Dragon calls and raises her own 18,000."

Toph pouted, "Does that raise mean you have a straight?"

"Good question," Azula laughed, "And thanks for telling me you don't have one yourself."

"As if it wasn't obvious?"

Azula shrugged, "I suppose."

"I fold." Toph pushed her tiles away and sat back.

Azula smirked. "Typical earthbender cowardice. Hide behind your stone wall and throw rocks from afar."

"The Blue Dragon takes 62,000 from the pot. The totals are Blue Dragon: 405,000, Blind Bandit: 405,000. Due to the tie and one-hour mark, we will be taking a 15-minute break and then resuming, thank you."

Neither Azula or Toph got up. The bustle of hundreds of spectators heading to the bathroom or going for drinks did nothing to distract them. For the two women, they might as well have been the only people in the room.

"Looks like we're evenly matched." Toph said with a smile.

"Not really." Azula replied flatly.

"Oh yeah? By my count our stacks are the same."

"Well yes, the amount we have is the same _now_, but to put me on the same level as you?" Azula snorted derisively, "Ridiculous. This game is slipping out of your hands and you don't even realize it."

"Big talk, Princess Crazy, I guess that's why I've been ahead for the last hour?" Toph grinned.

Azula broke out her trademark smirk, "And would you look at that, your lead's all gone. A lucky hand bought you some time, but in a few more hours you'll be done."

"Someone oughta send you back to the asylum," Toph said with a smirk to match Azula's, "Because you're getting delusional."

"You know when someone has lost the game when all they can do is come up with feeble insults."

"No, you know when someone's lost when they can't come up with good comebacks."

"Like that one? Please."

The dealer's voice cut in before Toph could retort.

"The headsup match will be resuming shortly, please return to your seats."

"Remember this moment, Toph. It is your brief respite before defeat."

The blind earthbender rolled her eyes, "You princesses are so melodramatic." Toph leaned forward, teeth bared like a feral animal, "I guess you gotta make up somehow for losing the war."

"We'll see who laughs last." Azula said, as cool as could be.

But the words were weak and while Azula had assumed the mask perfectly again, it was too late. Toph had sensed the hiccup. For just a split second, Azula's heart sped up before the princess had wrestled it under control. The earthbender's grin grew wider. She had finally set Azula off balance.

"It'd sure be humiliating to lose here in front of all these people, wouldn't it Crazula?"

"Yes and I'm sure you'll remember the shame of it until the day you die."

The dealer burst through, his voice booming for all to hear, "Ladies and Gentlemen! The match is resuming! The Blue Dragon has big blind."

Azula ante'd up, 10,000 in the pot straight away.

Toph put in the small blind of 5,000 and the dealer began shifting the tiles to each player.

The blind girl's hands went over the tiles and felt out what she'd be playing with. It took some control to restrain the smile that threatened to break out, but Toph was more than capable. A circle with 4 tear-drop leaves, it was a lily, the strongest tile in the game. And she had _two_ of them placed right in her hands. She rubbed the tiles a little softer to feel the texture. One was the "orange" Air and the other was the "black" Fire. Black being used for fire as "red" was apparently too close to "orange". Whatever any of that meant. Toph only knew that luck had delivered the best cards she could have possibly asked for. Now it was up to her to execute.

"I raise." Toph said, putting in 20,000. It wasn't a lot, but Toph didn't want to rush it, she needed to lure Azula into the trap first. At the same time she couldn't be too passive either, she wasn't called the Blind Bandit for nothing.

"Call." Azula tossed the chips in.

The dealer moved the tiles and called out the three he had placed in the middle of the table, "Fire Eight, Earth Lily, Fire Five."

Rock, I am a rock. A rock does not sweat, a rock does not raise its eyebrows, a rock does not leap up and shout with joy when it's given triple lilies. Rock, rock, rock.

"I raise 60,000." Toph said, pushing several stacks of chips forward.

Azula raised an eyebrow, "You wouldn't happen to have a Lily in your hand, would you?"

Everything was normal, she was a rock. Every breath was measured and exactly the same, every beat of her heart precisely in tune. Toph was a rock. "Only one way to find out, right?"

"That's true," Azula said quietly before pushing her own stack of chips in, "I call."

The fourth tile came out and the dealer announced it, "Fire Four."

Bit by bit, she'd lure Azula in. "I raise 120,000." Toph said, putting the chips forward.

"Call." Azula said monotonously.

Azula probably had the last Lily herself and figured the odds of Toph getting two in one hand were low enough for her to risk that amount. Her second tile was probably a Lord or a Lady, some high tile to reassure her. A little luck and Azula's miscalculation was going to give Toph the game.

"Final card: The Water Lily."

There was the last lily and all of Toph's fears evaporated. She had a four-of-a-kind. Four Lilies. She could not have asked for anything more.

"I'm all-in." Toph swept her arm across her stacks and pushed every last coin out there.

Azula smirked, "Oh, what a way to go."

And that's when it hit Toph.

It was worse than any rock, fireball or icicle and she swayed in her seat.

"I call the all-in." Azula's lips had never curled so sinisterly as they did then.

The lilies had distracted her. She didn't notice, she didn't realize. Not until now.

"Please show your hands."

Muscle memory performed the rote reaction, she had played enough hands of poker to do that much. But she hadn't done enough of anything to keep her head straight as the game came crashing down on her.

"The Blue Dragon wins with a Straight Flush, Fire Four to Eight."

Straight Flush beats four of a kind, Toph dumbly thought, it was the only hand that did. But, you probably only ever saw a straight flush once every ten thousand hands. Maybe less.

"Four Lilies? A very good hand." Azula's voice seemed to float through one ear and out the next, "A very, very good hand."

"Yeah."

"Don't feel too bad."

Toph felt a hand on her shoulder, gently patting it and Azula's tone almost sounded... pitying.

"Luck just wasn't with you, tonight."

Luck. Luck. Luck. There was just no way. No way. How could anyone be that lucky?

"After all, you were playing against _me_. You put up a good fight, but to expect anything more than second place?" Azula gave a small laugh and that brief second of mirth was the most evil thing Toph had ever heard. "It was fun playing with you, Toph. Let's do it again some other time."

And with that the princess was gone.

Toph sat there for a while. She could hear the whispers of the spectators and the shuffle of their feet as they emptied the stands. It was soothing in a way, plain static noise. No more thinking, calculating or controlling. She could relax.

"Ms. Blind Bandit?" The dealer spoke up, breaking the moment of peace, "We're going to have to start cleaning up. If you'd allow us...?"

The man was telling her to get the hell out and Toph was more than willing to oblige. She nodded wordlessly and pushed herself up out of her seat.

Something made her pause. Something the mad had said. That they had to... clean. They had to clean. Clean. CLEAN.

Toph blinked and turned towards the dealer, "No one's touched the tiles yet, right?"

"Uh, yes. That's correct."

Toph pushed past the man and went over to Azula's side. Toph picked up the two tiles that made Azula's winning hand and held them out for the dealer.

"Tell me, what are these?"

There was a faint sound of the dealer scratching his head, "A Fire Six and a Fire Seven."

Toph put a thumb against both the six and seven and rubbed. Rubbed and rubbed and rubbed. She held the tiles up again, "What are they now?"

The dealer's mouth dropped. "An... Earth Six and a Water Seven. But... how?"

"Ash," Toph whispered, "She used firebending to make ash and painted the tiles black."

"She... she cheated!" The dealer cried out.

"Of course she did," Toph gave a hard smile, "Azula always lies."

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note: Originally, both Toph and Azula were going to be cheating. Toph was going to have earthbended the lilies into appearing into her hand or something along those lines. In the end though, the result was the same and the loss was a little too humiliating for Toph in such a scenario.<em>

_I think poker's a great game in case you couldn't tell. I'm not particularly good, but it's fun. Sorry to the hardcore poker fans for not including the totallyradpokerterms. And for the poker fan who notices, yeah the title's a reference to the 1994 film with the same name. The finale of that movie has always stayed with me. I guess you could say that this is kind of a crossover? Not really._

_And lastly... Toph is plays aggressively so she's The Blind Bandit... getit? getit?_


	6. Deus Ex

_AN: Hehe._

* * *

><p>Who knew spirits had such a flair for the dramatic? Azula supposed it made sense. Half of the power of the Avatar was in his legend, he had to put on a proper show if he was to keep up appearances. Most people would be too stunned to properly fight him as soon as they knew who he was.<p>

Thankfully, Azula was not most people.

As the Avatar broke free from his crystal cage, his body glowing with a brilliant white light, Azula began to seperate her chi. All-powerful and all-mighty did not mean all-invulnerable. The Avatar had given her his back and it would be the last mistake he ever made.

Her hands crackled with the first signs of electricity and she sweeped her hands together. Her chi centered on the tips of her fingers and she thrust it toward the exposed Avatar.

Katara noticed the lightning a split second before everyone else. It was a split second headstart to save the boy who would save the world. A split second.

Enough time for her to begin conjuring the water underneath her. Enough time to begin propelling herself forward. Enough time to realize that she wasn't going to make it.

Aang was going to die. And though she didn't have the fractions of a second to stop it, she had just enough time for the first tears to swell in her eyes.

Right as the lightning bolt seemed sure to strike Aang, a figure appeared behind the Avatar. A young man with a metal cap over one shoulder and a piece of grass between his teeth.

Azula was the most surprised when her lightning bolt arced back towards her and struck her right in the heart.

"Here comes the caval-Oh you guys already beat them all up." Sokka let out a huge sigh as he walked towards his friends.

"You sound like you _wanted_ Aang and Katara to lose." Toph remarked.

"You're right." Sokka threw a fist in the air somewhat halfheartedly, "Another victory for Team Avatar."

"Sorry, Sokka."

"Yeah, yeah, it's no..." Sokka shook his head and stared, "_Jet?_"

The freedom fighter tilted his head back and smirked. "What's up."

"But! But! I mean..." Sokka scratched his head, "I guess it was kinda vague."

Aang and Katara finished freezing the last of the Dai Li agents in place and walked over. Both looked as confused as Sokka did.

"Jet," Aang started, "I'm really glad you helped us out. I mean... fighting off all the Dai Li agents like that, taking down Zuko and I don't know how, but redirecting Azula's lightning?" The Avatar rubbed his neck, "I guess I have to say... thanks."

"No problem, Aang." Jet shrugged, "Just doing my part."

"Not to sound ungrateful, but..." Aang bit his lip, "_How did you do all that_?"

"And," Katara added, "Not to sound like I'm not glad you're here, but didn't Long Feng... kill you?"

"Heh," again Jet smirked, "You guys are just a bundle of questions, aren't you?"

"More like you're a bundle of mysteries," Toph butt in, "I can feel... something different about you. You're not same the last time we met."

"That's right." Jet nodded, "A lot happened since Long Feng nearly killed me. I'm not sure how or why... but when that rock hit me, it changed me."

"A _rock_ changed you." Sokka stated flatly.

"I know, I know. It sounds crazy, but... when I woke up afterwards I felt... stronger. Faster. Like I had all the energy in the world."

Aang's eyes went wide at that, "Your chakras were opened!"

"Chakawhat?" Toph asked.

"The chakras! It's the source of everyone's energy and power." Aang beamed as he looked at Jet, "You entered your Spirit State! The rock must have hit the exact pressure point to allow you to connect with the Spirit World!"

"The Spirit World?" Jet frowned, "I don't remember anything like that."

"Sometimes you don't, but you must've went, it's the only explanation as how you could've become so strong so suddenly!" Aang paused, "Er, no offense."

"None taken."

"Okay wait," Sokka was pinching the bridge of his nose as he muttered frantically, "So this isn't to say that I _do_ believe this whole magic rock, Spirit stuff, chakra mumbo jumbo, but whatever you just said still doesn't explain how you can suddenly REDIRECT LIGHTNING."

"Oh that?" Jet pointed to the captured prince who was currently frozen to the wall. "Zuko taught me."

"_What_?" Everyone asked in unison.

"_You know Zuko_?" Katara added for good measure.

"We met on the ferry to Ba Sing Se. We got along pretty well until I discovered he was actually Fire Nation." Jet scowled, "For a while he had me thinking he was from a distant branch of the Water Tribe. That's why he showed me that technique, he said it was a waterbending move."

"It is!" Zuko shouted angrily from his trapped position, "But you have to know firebending to do it! I don't know how it worked for you!"

Jet shrugging was becoming a very common occurence.

"I guess... Spirit World stuff?" Aang suggested.

"That seems like the only possible explanation." Jet decided.

"Right, so the solution to all our problems was a really lucky rock and Spirit whataver." Sokka said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yup!" Aang beamed.

The sound Sokka made as he tore out his hair was like a strangled cat-boar.


End file.
